Chinese automakers recalled a total of 3.94 million vehicles over the past six years, an average of 1,800 units every day, according to a senior official of the country's quality supervision administration.

Chen Fei, director of the Defective Products Management Center with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, revealed the data in an interview with Xinhua.

Chen attributed the large number of recalls to the regulations on defective auto products, which took effect on Oct. 1, 2004.

The administration's statistics showed the number of recalls and vehicles involved were increasing. In 2009 alone, a record 1.36 million vehicles were recalled.

China overtook the United States to become the world's largest auto market last year with sales of more than 13 million vehicles.

In the first eight months this year, China's auto sales at wholesale level rose 39.02 percent year on year to 11.58 million units, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.